ORIGINAL: abufletcher

Two facts are certain. 1) Aircraft rarely look best when photographed from below and 2) the photographer is almost always below a flying model. So what can a good pilot do to increase the chance of a good photographer getting a GREAT in-flight shot?

Just like different movie stars have different "best sides," most aircraft (and our models of them) also tend to look best from certain angles. Most models don't look their best in a flat side view (as for example in the middle of a low pass) and most don't look coming straight at the camera. The most dramatic photos are almost always during banking motion. In my opinion, most WWI biplanes look best in a downward looking 3/4 rear angle, that is when the model is flying away and both climbing and banking at the same time. But by the time we typically do this type of turn the model is down at the end of the field where even a 300mm lens can't get at it.

So what would be the most photogenic flight path we could follow? I've borrowed a photo that Mike posted on the Best Scale Photo thread to illustrate the point of this thread. This is a good example, the model appears to be right "in front" of the photography but it's rare to see a model turn "into the pits" at mid-pass. Just what was the pilot doing at the time this photo was made?